Jed Hoyer Downplays Urgency, Says Cubs ‘Have a Lot of Offers Out There’
Jon Morosi said Monday night on MLB Network that the Cubs may be next up to make a splash similar to the one the Phillies made by signing Trea Turner for $300 million. The obvious indication is that a move for Xander Bogaerts or Carlos Correa could be forthcoming after recent meetings that included Jon Lester, though Morosi also mentioned Koudai Senga and Chris Bassitt as players with whom the Cubs are still involved.
Jed Hoyer admitted to reporters that the Cubs have indeed made offers to multiple free agents, or maybe it’s just multiple offers to one free agent, but he did his level best to squash any expectations.
“I mean, certainly we have a lot of offers out there and we’ll continue to make offers,” Hoyer said. “Whether things come to fruition or not, you never really quite know, but it won’t be from a lack of putting offers out there. You can try, but you never know…getting deals done is complicated.”
"We have a lot of offers out there."
Jed Hoyer from the #WinterMeetings pic.twitter.com/sLSeaofUO6
— Marquee Sports Network (@WatchMarquee) December 6, 2022
Unlike Anthony Rizzo‘s glass case of emotion during the 2016 World Series, Hoyer seems to exist in a lead box devoid of any sentiment that could betray his intentions. That’s always been his MO and he’s not about to change even as pressure to make a move, any move, mounts from all angles. The only tell he has is a frequent verbal tic you’ll see below that tends to come out a little more often when he’s talking under stress.
“I think you always have to kind of run your own race,” Hoyer explained to CHGO’s Ryan Herrera and others. I think I learned pretty early on you can’t react to what’s happening. You have to make the right decisions. I think we all prepare for a bunch of different possibilities all the time and so, yeah, you try not to be surprised.”
Hoyer added that some of the perceived urgency at the Winter Meetings is a result of the event being a day shorter, thereby compressing the activity a bit. A lot of groundwork was laid ahead of the weekend, hence the flurry of activity on Monday. We know the Cubs met with Bogaerts 10 days ago, so they certainly got the ball rolling well ahead of this particular summit.
“It was really an active weekend,” Hoyer admitted. “Sort of Friday, Saturday, and then even on Sunday as everyone’s getting out here. A lot more phone calls than usual. I feel like usually there’s a lot more, ‘Yeah, we’ll sit down at the Meetings,’ and this time there was more preparation going in, I think, from the agents to get here.”
Not all of that activity will be productive, nor will it all be for naught like more than a few folks out there seem to believe. What everyone seems to forget each year around this time is that a lot of teams will show interest in a lot of players, but the reality of the situation is that each player can only sign with one team. All we’re trying to do here is provide a running commentary of the rumors and reports in order to paint the whole picture over the course of the winter.
If you’re of the opinion that the only thing worth reading is a story about a deal getting done, you can feel free to do that sans public announcement. In the meantime, we’ll keep putting out whatever we can about those complicated facets of getting deals done. I may also have some recipes for cooking crow in the event that Hoyer and Co. do get a big deal done.
